Nashville Sounds Baseball

Albuquerque, NM – The Nashville Sounds (69-58) rattled off 17 hits in Saturday night’s series opener at Isotopes Park to defeat the Albuquerque Isotopes, 8-3. The win, paired with Memphis’ win over El Paso, keeps Nashville tied with the Redbirds for first place in the division with 17 games to go.

Nashville jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning on five consecutive singles off of Isotopes starting pitcher Zach Lee (7-11).

Nashville Sounds Baseball

First baseman Matt Clark’s bases-loaded single through the hole at second plated the Sounds’ first two runs, while Sean Halton follow with an RBI single of his own. Clark later scored on Hector Gomez’s ground out.

Sounds starter Taylor Jungmann (7-5) limited the ‘Topes to two runs, one earned, which both came across in the bottom of the second inning.

Albuquerque’s Brock Peterson lifted Jungmann’s 3-1 pitch over the left-center field wall to lead off the inning. Then Walter Ibarra knocked in Mike Baxter with a single following Matt Pagnozzi’s two-out throwing error.

Jungmann picked up his seventh win and quality start of the season, holding Albuquerque to just three hits in six innings of work. He fired seven strikeouts and issued four walks before reliever Brent Leach began the seventh.

The Sounds added to their lead as Jason Rogers worked around the bases in the third inning: hitting a single, moving to second on a Lee wild pitch, and taking third on a groundout before scoring on Halton’s single.

Clark blasted his 10th home run of the year in the fifth inning to give Nashville a 6-2 advantage. The California-native has five home runs over his last five games and extended his hit streak to six games, matching his best as a Sound.

Outfielder Logan Schafer also saw his season-best hit streak move to 13 games, which marks the longest by a Sound this season.

Rounding out the Sounds scoring was catcher Matt Pagnozzi, who drove a two-run double to left-center field in the ninth inning to give Nashville a 8-3 lead.

Leach allowed a hit in the home half of the eighth inning to put a runner on base for Dustin Molleken, who allowed the inherited runner to come around on Tim Federowicz’s RBI single. Closer Rob Wooten also saw work from the ‘pen, firing a spotless ninth inning.

The Sounds will play game two against Albuquerque Sunday afternoon at 2:35pm. Nashville sends RHP Jay Jackson (0-1, 7.71) to the hill opposite the Albuquerque’s RHP Jeff Bennett (6-6, 3.96).